72 



the U.S. purchased Alaska, (including the Pribilofs) the Pribilof herd had recov- 

 ered to the point that it sustained an annual harvest of 100,000 males for many 

 years. 



The United States began its jurisdiction by permitting a number of independ- 

 ent companies to operate. In the first season 300,000 skins were taken. To pro- 

 tect the fur seals, Congress in 1869 set aside the Pribilofs as a special reserva- 

 tion. During the next 20 years, sealing on the Pribilofs was conducted under a 

 leasing arrangement, with some 2 million sealskins taken. A second 20-year lease 

 produced only 343,000 skins, and in 1910 the Federal Government assumed direct 

 management of the approximately 200,000 fur seals that survived. 



During this 40-year period, killing at sea had continued. American, Canadian, 

 and Japanese sealers had s<hot and speared fur seals from ships. They could not 

 tell the sex or age of the animals, many of which were lost through wounding or 

 sinking. When a nursing mother was killed it often meant slow starvation for 

 her pup. 



For 1879 to 1909, almost one million fur seals were taken at sea. No one knows 

 how many more were wasted. 



The open seal killing was halted by international agreement in 1911, when the 

 United States, Great Britain, Japan, and Russia concluded a convention for the 

 protection of the North Pacific fur seal. In exchange for the ban on pelagic seal- 

 ing, the United States and the Soviet Union, under the agreement, provide Japan 

 and Canada each with 15 percent of the harvest from the Pribilofs and 15 per- 

 cent of the harvest from those islands under jurisdiction of the Soviet Union. 



In addition to the conservation of the seal herd made ix)ssible by this agree- 

 ment, there is now an economic gain for the State of Alaska, which by the Alaska 

 Statehood Act obtains 70 percent of the net proceeds from the sale of Alaska 

 sealskins. 



The majority of sealskins are presently utilized by the European market. A ban 

 placed on the importation of seal pelts into the U.S. would have little, if any, 

 effect on world seal harvests. 



In the United States, the Fur Seal Act of 1966 charged the Secretary of the 

 Interior mth management of the fur seals. This responsibility was transferred to 

 the Secretary of Commerce on Oct. 3, 1970. The National Oceanic and Atmos- 

 pheric Administration's National Marine Fisheries Service supervises the harvest 

 of an average 50,000 fur seals each summer on the Pribilof Islands. 



There are seal rookeries under U.S. jurisdiction on Alaska's Pribilof Islands 

 of St. Paul and St. George in the Bering Sea on Robbeu Island, and on the Kurile 

 Islands in the Sea of Okhotsk. There is substantial intermixing between the 

 herds of the eastern and we.stem Pacific Ocean. 



iThe harvest is restricted largely to 3- and 4-year old bachelor males that con- 

 gregate on the edges of the rookeries. Baby .seals, or pups, are not harvested. 

 Females are taken only when it is necessary to keep the number of animals at 

 the most productive level the Pribilof environment can suiiport. Overcrowding 

 brings higher mortality among the pups. The battle for living space causes in- 

 juries and leads to disease and starvation. Such mortality, in the past, has taken 

 up to 20% of the pups before they are sufiiciently mature to leave the rookeries. 



One concern has been the length of the paths along which seals are driven 

 from the shore to the harvest. To reduce discomfort, the drive paths have been 

 shortened by approximately one-half. Experiments are jjlanned with other 

 ground cover to determine whether the drive can be further improved. 



Seals are harvested with clubs. They are dispatched quickly with a blow to 

 the head. 



For several years, the Fisheries Service has been experimenting with alterna- 

 tive methods including drugs, gases, electricity, shooting, and others to dispatch 

 seals. At this point, despite extensive effort, none has been found which accom- 

 plishes the task as quickly and as humanely. The Service's po.sition is that it 

 cannot cause increased suffering, and introduce an element of danger to the men 

 employed in the harvest, simply to provide a cosmetic death. Meanwhile, the 

 quest for a more humane method will be vigorou.sly pursued. 



The Service has cooperated clcsely with representatives of humane societies 

 who observe the .seal harvest annually. It will continue the cooperation. Fur- 

 ther, the cooperation of the American Veterinary Medical As.sociation'.si Research 

 Committee is being sought in the Service's continuing search for the most humane 

 way in which to conduct the harvest. 



Should the fur seal harvest continue? When the alternatives are considered, 

 the answer must be affirmative. 



